My Garden is my Sactuary

Finding my muse at the moment and not being able to get into the swing of things...... so, to treat myself I took 6 paintings to the framers on Monday..... just because I wanted to see my work enhanced by frames and not just lying around getting grubby, also I thought it might give me the inspiration to paint something worth sending to the framers and.........just because I can!!!

So unfortunately dear friends, all I have to offer today is a study of an Amaryllis flower which flowered so beautifully for me earlier this year.It's the most glorious pink - one which isn't in my paintbox. That was the challenge - trying to find the right colour to portray this beautiful flower. I think I have made a lovely pink using Quin. Magenta and a touch of Indian Yellow. This is a study for a larger painting I'm thinking of painting....... this is minus a preliminary sketch, on really crappy paper. I have a lovely piece of Archers I want to do this on!

 

Amaryllis Study

A Rose - LOVE

Today I painted roses......
This month being Valentines month and today being my anniversary, I thought I'd paint roses (purely from my head)..... the symbol of love and and peace.

Antique roses

Artichoke and Gerbers studies

My cousin's artichokes in her veggie garden had gone to flower so she picked a few for a vase in her kitchen. They were huge and I fell in love with the lovely fluffy purple tops against the glorious green hard spikes, so she gave them to me to paint.

 

Artichoke Flower Studies 

  

The inspiration

The flower store was offering 3 pots of Gerber's on special so I purchased a baby pink one, a cerise pink and a lovely orange pot. Here are a couple of studies of the orange one I did..... I have studied the sketches and there is definitely some room for improvement here, I'd like to do others with more lost edges around the petals.

 

Gerber Studies

Practice, Practice, Practice

That is what top artists will say to you if you want to improve your skills in painting. "A painting a day" is another..... Basically, you need to just paint, paint, paint, even if it's just playing with 'colour mixes', 'shadows', trying tonal values, sketching etc. But we all know that..... don't we? It's not the only way we learn, but it's the best way...... Remember, It's a journey of growth, so enjoy it!

How many of us actually do paint daily?... I'm blushing here, as I fall into the 'non-daily' painters camp! Life just seems to get in the way sometimes and I forget that painting is or should be part of my daily therapy. And boy, do I need therapy! However I do feel terribly guilty if,  by the end of the day I haven't picked up a brush or pencil. 2010however does look promising as I find myself with more time on my hands and less daily interruptions.

I have a few commitments this early this year with 2 wonderful workshops coming up so I really need to practice and get my brushes flowing. The first workshop is with Hazel Soan, who will be visiting South Africa soon - Hazel is an internationally renowned artist and is the author of seven books on painting in watercolours. The other 2 exciting workshops I'll attend are in the UK with renowned artist Jean Haines. http://www.jeanhaines.com/ Jean has been my mentor and inspiration for a number of years now, she has a unique loose style of painting which I admire and is in the process of having her first book published.I have had the fortune of meeting Ms Haines last year at a workshop she ran on 'Watercolours with Life' and although, exhausting, enjoyed my self immensely.

Here are a few sketches I was practicing using Hazel Soan's 'African African Watercolours'.

Sketches from Hazel's book...using my moleskin.

And one using my own photo... minus preliminary sketch.

This painting was from a photo I took at the Rhino and Lion Park last year. 

This ewe was actually feeding.....hence her looking away from the camera,

  I left the young Springbok out of the painting....

I plan to do flowers next.....(Jean style). I have hundreds and hundreds of photos of flower studies.....

so best I get cracking......

Have a lovely weekend all... till next time.....

Phoebe the Allens Hummingbird

This is Phoebe the little hummingbird. I to have jumped on the bandwagon to sketch her.
Two Blogger friends, Maree  http://naturesketchers.blogspot.com/2010/01/allens-hummingbird-maree.html. and Vickie  http://vickiehenderson.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html. have also painted sketches of her sitting on her eggs.

 PHOEBE

Sketched from a live video-cam link http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Hummingbird-Nest-Cam. set up next to a house near a rosebush in a yard in Orange County California. It was quite easy sketching her as she ignores the camera lens on her and I had the opportunity to really study her. One can see her from different angles and get to see her markings quite well as she turns around to settle in the opposite direction.

This little hummingbird is sitting on two eggs at the moment and are expected to hatch any day now. So follow this link if you are keen to get a good sighting of Phoebe and the hatching of her eggs. The eggs were laid on the 2nd & 4th of Jan and are incubated for about 17 days. Apparently this is her 5th clutch laid in the same yard.  It's so exciting watching the live feed of this busy little lady who flits in and out of her nest and wriggles around re-arranging her eggs. I must admit, I do get carried away with watching her... it's addictive.

We do not have hummingbirds here in South Africa, but they are similar to our Sugarbirds and Sunbirds.

Till later.......

Playing with Washes

I add this little sketch with trepidation. I feel it is not worth the viewing but I thought, for prosperity's sake I'd add it to my blog as I do plan to take this further. I'll enjoy coming back in about a year's time to view how my painting style as evolved. This is a little sketch, playing with a 'first wash'. Minus pencil.  I was challenging myself with the encouragement from a friend to work in a loose style. Watch this space.................

Happy 2010

I made it! Another year gone and so much achieved, art wise. Actually, I can't believe how far I have come with my painting generally. Barely 18 months ago I  made up my mind that I was going to pursue my love for watercolours. I had huge amounts of encouragement from friends and family, and want to thank everyone who were involved in my progress most sincerely for the ongoing support, love and inspiration this last year.

I have not painted as much as I'd have liked, but this year I have the opportunity, so I'll take advantage of this time to get stuck in and paint and paint and paint, or, practice, practice, practice!

Here are a few rough sketches I did in the journals I purchased..... what horrible paper! Think I'll have to use it for sketching in pencil and ink.

Naughty Twins

A sketch I did a while ago trying desperately to be loose.Think I achieved that but lost the dimensions of the one ellie's face. Just went in with the brush, no initial sketching. Would love to recreate this sketch as the two elephant have such a mischievous look to them.....